President Fiat

It comes as no surprise that one American president, South American that is, has embraced the power to rule by decree.  That president is Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.  (Link to story here.)  But at least Hugo waited until his country's legislature officially gave him that power.

In North America, a president is ruling by executive decree and bureaucratic fiat as well.  Of course, that president is the United States' own Barack Obama.  Here are two recent examples . . .

#1:  Remember the brouhaha over "Death Panels" originally included in the monstrous bill that brought us (or is bringing us) Obamacare.  Without rehashing the details, suffice it to say that at the very least Obama and the majority of the Dems wanted end-of-life planning included in patients' government funded annual checkups.  Pro-Life conservatives opposed and won the battle.  The provision was removed before Obamacare passed.

But winning the battle is not winning the war.  The death panels are back.  The Obama administration has simply issued a new Medicare regulation enacting them.  (Link to story here.)  So much for the will of Congress.  So much for the will of the people expressed through their representatives in a representative democracy.

But one is not enough . . .

#2:  "Net neutrality."  The Obama-controlled Federal Communications Commission has decided to jump into the field of internet communications and regulate those communications as it does television and radio.  To date, standing alone, the reasons and the proposed regulations may even seem innocuous.  But the fact of the matter is, the government regulating the free flow of information on the only communication outlet not controlled by the political left wing in America should cause some pause.

Now, certainly in a representative democracy, the will of the people on this issue should matter, right?  Certainly our elected representatives in Congress would be the ones to determine whether or not a new field should be opened to government regulation, right?

Not in Barack Obama's America.  Nope.  Congress passed no law unleashing the hounds of the FCC on the internet.  And, according to this Rasmussen poll, just 21% of American voters want government regulation of anything on the internet.   A majority opposes such regulation in favor of a free market.

Welcome to America.  You and I are the great unwashed.  What you think doesn't matter - at least to President Fiat.  He knows best.  The great father looking out for us from the mountaintop.  So he thinks.

The upcoming regime change in 2012 (actually January 20, 2013) can't come fast enough.